Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 3: Pursuit

TWENTY-SIX

I was dreaming again, but this time was different. Instead of the nice room I was sharing with Cloud in Costa del Sol, I found myself standing in the upstairs bedroom of a modest, multilevel apartment. Through the window, I could see a city that was large, growing, and still being built. A place I'd never been to before but which was still vaguely familiar. Then, I glanced back at the bed and gasped in disbelief.

It wasn't me that was laying in bed with Cloud. It was Tifa. She was watching him sleep, her eyes lingering on him the same way I'd seen them do back in the Midgar slums before she'd so kindly stepped aside to let me be with him instead. My blood burned with fear, confusion, and jealousy. What the hell was she doing there where I should be? Why was she under the sheets with him, her bare shoulders visible as she curled so intimately up to the man I loved? What was going on?

"Do you love me?" she whispered.

I'd had that same question on my mind for a long time now, but... I was too scared to ask him about it, to even acknowledge it and admit the doubts that had begun to fester inside my heart about his feelings for me. Cloud cared about me, but... was that it? Wasn't there anything more? I wanted to believe there was, more than anything, and yet no matter how many times I told him I loved him, he wouldn't return the favor. I didn't want him to worry, but it was getting harder for me to play around like it didn't hurt. And now this... why was she here?

Then a cold, familiar voice spoke softly from behind me. "This is the future that was supposed to be, Jessie."

"What?" I asked, my eyes still on Cloud and Tifa.

"You're in the way," Sephiroth taunted.

I shook my head. "No, that... that can't be! I should be the one who's there with Cloud, not her! What's she doing there?"

Sephiroth moved up next to me. "She loves him. As for you..."

Now I did look at him. "What about me?"

"In this future, you're dead," he replied. "The fate you were meant to have. And in your absence, they found each other."

I backed away from the bed. "But things are different now!"

He chuckled. "Not so much as you think."

"Bullshit!" I swore. Cloud and Tifa didn't move, completely unaware that we were there. "She loves Biggs! I know she does!"

"No, Jessie. She merely settled for less because she knew that what she truly wanted was now beyond her grasp. Because of you. What you have done is shatter Tifa's dreams to fulfill your own."

I clenched my fists at my sides. "It's not like that!"

"Are you sure?" Sephiroth sneered.

"I offered to step aside for her, but she let me be with him anyway," I retorted, but the words sounded hollow.

His laughter was cold. "Only because she knew she couldn't stop you. If you had truly cared for them both, you would never have pursued him in the first place. And now, Cloud—"

"Loves me!" I finished, trembling all over. "I know he does!"

"Then why hasn't he said it?" Sephiroth whispered.

I fell back a step. "I... I don't know. He's got... a lot to work out. And his mind isn't what it should be. But he'll tell me... when he's ready. Once he's whole again. I... I can wait. I can do that for him."

"A comforting lie," he taunted. "His heart has never truly been yours, Jessie. What he desires is something you can never give him, for a puppet can't feel. The real Cloud has no love for you."